Chapter 6: Tired Hands
Vivi clicked off the phone, a smile lighting her face, "We got a job!"
Lewis looked up from his abuela's book, highlighter in hand. Even a week after his stunning realization, he was dazzled by the brightness of the girl in front of him. He struggled not to stutter, "What're we dealing with?"
"Well, there's a corn maze down by our old home town-you know the Shrocker family?-and they've actually been having quite a few problems with the haunted aspect of it."
Lewis cocked his head, "You mean to say their haunted corn maze is actually haunted?"
"Looks like. They keep finding dead bodies in the maze, so at first they thought it was just an opportunistic murderer, but...he says there have been other weird things. The corn maze itself has changed, and everytime him or the police try to tear through it, they end up back at the beginning of the maze with no luck." Vivi explained, glancing over her notebook as she read.
Arthur, driving the van up front, was not digging the job so far, "Whoopee, a potentially deadly chase through a corn maze in the dead of night. What better way to spend our Halloween?"
Vivi closed her book, "It pays well, a solid $2000."
This piqued Arthur's interest. Currently, they were allowed five dollars a day for meals each-if Vivi's math was correct, that would give them enough for gas money for the rest of the month without having to chip into the emergency funds. That meant Arthur's unhealthy reliance on junk food was cut short, and the caffeine junkie had next to no money to buy his energy drinks and coffee. A well paying job meant paradise for him.
Lewis leaned back, smiling to himself, "I could actually cook you guys a decent meal with that. I'm assuming half would go into the emergency fund?"
Vivi nodded, "Yep. Better safe than sorry."
"Well then, count me in."
The girl smiled, "You know I'm all for it. This mystery is too enticing."
Both looked up at Arthur, eyes pleading into the back of his fiery hair. He kept his head focused straight on the road, weighing the options carefully as his hands rocked gently back and forth. How could he chose between life and doritos? To Arthur, the world was too cruel.
"I better get a junk food stash the size of this van."
Vivi nearly jumped up in joy, "Alright! It'll be good to see home again. I miss all my old hangouts, and we absolutely have to go to the Pizza Palace for our Friday dinner, Arty. It's been way too long!"
Lewis looked somewhat sad, "I wonder how my family will react. They nearly disowned me when I left."
"Oh, suck it up, buttercup. My uncle Lance is going to kill me if I even show my face around there. He's all about being 'professional' and I skipped my two week notice," Arthur tenderly massaged the side of his neck, "when I wore jeans to work, he nearly strangled me. I worked at a mechanics shop for fuck's sake, what was I supposed to wear?"
Vivi giggled a little bit, "We'll hunt down the culprits, grab some pizza, and be out of there before he can even think of you, Arthur. Are we headed the right way?"
Arthur lifted a hand and gestured back to the two with a mix of disgust and duty, "You know it. Unwanted past, here I come." He groaned dramatically.
The night may be characterized by its darkness, but just as the morning sky can be many hues of light, the evening can be a thousand different shades of nothing. It was in the darkest of those shades, when the sky is both cloudy and starless, that the Mystery Skulls arrived at Shrocker Family Farms-a Halloween both deadly and terrifying.
Lewis stood outside of the maze, Vivi standing near his side, Mystery at his feet, and Arthur clinging to his arm with enough force to prevent blood circulation. Everytime the ginger joined them on a hunt, he naturally hid behind his large and intimidating bodyguard despite the fact that, with a gun, Vivi was possibly the safest. Checking all his bases, Arthur swung his flashlight around wildly, jumping at every simple noise he heard.
"Alright, the equipment is set up. Everyone have their gun handy?" Vivi asked, checking to make sure both of hers were safely concealed. Lewis gestured at his, but Arthur was still too terrified to really answer back. Vivi shrugged it off, knowing he'd probably be too frozen by fear and shock to use it anyway; she'd just have to keep a close eye on him. It was time to venture into possibly the most dangerous hunt they had taken yet, and none of them felt truly ready.
Lewis took a few steps into the maze, watching the stalks closely as the wind blew them back and forth. In the distance, he could hear the screams and laughter from the rival haunted house, part of him wishing they'd all stop so he could truly and utterly focus. Through the study of his abuela's notes, he had narrowed down their culprit to three things; a month long demon-summoning, haunted burial ground, or offended and cannibalistic fae-people. When brought up to Arthur, none of them had seemed that wonderful.
Lewis glanced at Vivi, her usually bright eyes now screwed up in concentration as she studied the scene. He hadn't told her yet-would this be the perfect time, surrounded by possibly death and/or terrible injury? It could be his last chance-unless, of course, they enter the afterlife together.
That was kind of sweet, but not something he wanted to do today.
Vivi tapped him on the shoulder, gesturing towards the choices they had in front of them: straight ahead, left, or right. He'd imagine, as they wanted to find the center, that straight would be the way to go in the end. Despite this, Vivi gestured to the right, and the whole gang followed. He loved how she did that.
Mystery was busy sniffing the ground viciously, and as they turned the corner, he rushed ahead, catching a whiff of something important enough to leave the group behind. As the gang weaved after him and in between the stalks, they nearly lost each other, but Vivi grabbed the two and pulled them along as she always did in the end. The strip of red from the dog's head reflected the light of Arthur's flashlight, and with that little beacon, they headed deeper and deeper into the maze.
Lewis glanced behind him, watching as the path they had come from was quickly enveloped by greedy corn stalks. The mud beneath their feet splashed up with every step, and as Mystery gained speed, so did they. He could feel a splash of fear grip his heart in a chokehold, but with every ounce of terror there was a gallon of adventure, and nothing was more exciting to him than the unknown.
He heard a distant chanting up ahead as Mystery slowed down a tad, growling underneath his breath and looking up at his owner's through his golden glasses. Arthur tightened his grip on both Vivi and Lewis, whispering and mumbling to himself as Vivi stole his flashlight and turned it off in what was to the ginger an act of betrayal, to Lewis an act that could save their lives. The corn was too thick to pass through now-they'd need to cut it down-but they could still peer into the heart of the corn maze if they pulled at the stalks hard enough.
"-and, with this sacrifice, our father shall rise again from the blood of the innocent. Awaken, unsightly virgin, and from your life let us be forgiven for the sins we may commit so that we may gaze upon the face of our ruler." A female voice cried out, her crowd rising in response with admiration and eagerness.
"Awaken, virgin."
Lewis closed his eyes. Looks like demon-summoning had been correct after all.
He caught a glimpse of a teenage boy bound in the middle of the clearing, shaggy brunette hair covering his eyes and a gushing wound still bleeding on his temple. At the words of the woman, his eyes opened slowly, and Lewis remembered him from high school: this was Eric Shrocker, the son of their client. He had been a freshmen when Lewis was a senior, so he would've been a sophomore now.
"H-hey, what's g-g-going on?" The boy, cursed with a stutter, trembled. It had never been that noticeable, but being surrounded by a demon cult never really helps those sort of things.
The sound of metal being pulled from a sheath of some sort rang throughout, and the boy began to struggle, "No, p-p-p-please don't...don't…"
Two young woman, each dressed in an old, brown cloak, leaned down to pick up the boy by the shoulders. One dipped down to whisper in his ear, "Cat got your tongue? How quaint." with a tone so sickly patronizing, it made Lewis flinch.
Something in this insult got to Vivi a little more than it had him. Lewis glanced over at her, finding his friend with shotgun in hand, aimed at the legs of the girl who had spoken so rudely. He could see from her clenched jaw that her teeth must have been pressed forcefully together, and with that, he knew she meant business.
Lewis adjusted his position a little to see further into the clearing, gesturing for Vivi to wait as the boy was thrown down dramatically onto his knees in front of what he assumed was the leader of the cult. The girl whom Vivi was aiming at pulled the shaggy head of Eric back, exposing a pale neck.
"Oh, unsightly virgin, your miserable life shall benefit the greater cause. No drop of blood shall be lost in vain, and you, along with those sacrificed prior, shall be seen as saints as a new world dawns," the cult leader lifted a finely gilded dagger, poised to strike, "Now, feed our father! With your death, bring us-"
A gunshot blasted through the night, and the clearing grew silent as the cult leader fell to her knees with her hands clutched to her side, crying out in pain as she dropped the knife into the mud. Without hesitation, Vivi rushed into the middle of the clearing and began cutting the ropes binding the boy in the middle, partaking in a plan she had formulated on the spot. The cult, along with Lewis and Arthur, was still dazed and confused.
Mystery burst out after her, his bunny tail sticking straight up and teeth bared as menacingly as a medium-sized dog could muster. As his thoughts caught up with him, Lewis followed after, and with him he dragged a whimpering Arthur. Though he loved the guy, he sometimes wondered why they brought the scaredy-cat along.
Vivi whispered quietly into Eric's ear, and the boy dashed away into the corn without looking back. She turned around, gun raised, to face the rest of the cult, "Don't move, or I'll shoot her again! And this time," Vivi glanced down at the leader, her hands still clenching her side, "it'll be fatal."
Each of the cult members raised their hands slowly to show defeat, faces hidden beneath the shadow of their hoods. Scattered throughout the clearing, incense was burned and black candles lit, and upon the ground was an intricate sigil dug deep into the mud-or was it mud? Lewis took a quick whiff of the air, and couldn't tell if the heavily metallic stench came from the bleeding cult leader or the possibly blood-stained ground beneath them.
He was brought back to reality by another gunshot and a firm hand on his arm that wasn't Arthur's. In fact, Arthur was pulled away from him with the sacrificial knife held close to his neck, eyes wide and voice raised in a bloodcurdling scream. At the foot of the cult, the leader was sprawled out in the silence that was death, and Vivi was thrown down next to her.
"You think we care for the life of one? Our vows are not to her, but to the father beneath," One cult member breathed, the one holding Arthur tightly, "You bring us another virgin to sacrifice. Still our father shall rise!"
Vivi's eyes grew wide, and she began scrambling in the mud to try and stand up while Arthur grew limp against the woman holding him, "Oh, dick move! In front of my friends, really?" he struggled a little, but gave up again, "How do you know I'm a virgin? For all you know I could be a total stud."
Lewis reached down for his gun, but it was taken quickly from his hands and pointed straight to his head, "Nice try, sugar-plum. Thanks for the new toy." taunted the same voice that had recently talked down the stuttering boy and thrown Vivi into a murderous rampage.
It was a pretty grim sight for the Mystery Skulls: Arthur was trapped by a knife, Lewis had a gun to his head, and Vivi couldn't move for fear that her friends would be slaughtered. The members turned to the one holding Arthur, chanting slowly and silently in sync. A thin line of blood had formed beneath the knife, and the ginger began to whine as his eyes rolled into the back of his head.
"Arthur, no!" Vivi shouted out, bursting up and attempting to run towards him, but she was paused by the cocking of the hammer to Lewis' head. That was enough to stop her in her tracks.
But there was someone they had forgotten about.
Snarling rabidly, Mystery jumped into the air to grab the arm of Arthur's captor in his jaws, shaking viciously back and forth as he pierced her skin with sharp fangs. Despite his size, the dog could bite, and as he fell back to the ground the girl had a large chunk taken out of her shoulder. The dog spit it out, readying himself for another attack.
Lewis used this opportunity to duck beneath the gun pointed at his head and bowl his own keeper into the ground. He debated whether or not he should give the girl a few punches, but hated the thought of himself acting violently, and left her without his gun to run over and cradle the still stunned Arthur. Terrified ginger in his arms and brave bluenette with his hand, the team began blindly running through the corn stalks.
Mystery took the lead again, weaving in and out of the maze to lead them to the beginning once more. Arthur was convulsing violently, his eyes still rolled into the back of his head as the team hurried, the leaves of the corn slashing into their skin and blinding their eyes. Vivi was shouting back to Lewis, but the rustling of the wind in his ears was too much to hear past.
"Hang in there, Art. I'm getting you out of here."
Just as his legs began to fail him, Lewis fell rather than ran out of the maze. With Arthur out of the reaches of the cult, a scream was once more raised into the night before everything was silence. The only thing that ascended into the starless sky was the heavy breathing of the Mystery Skulls, and the light groaning of Arthur as his convulsions came to an end. His mouth was foaming slightly, but his eyes were now visible and clearly distressed.
"Vivi, I think he's having a seizure."
Vivi had also collapsed on the ground, throat dry and breathing laborious. Despite this, she nearly sprinted over to Lewis when Arthur's health was in danger, and began taking his pulse and checking other vitals.
The fear drained from her eyes as she gave a sigh of relief, pulling her hands from Arthur's neck to caress his cheeks and face tenderly, "He's over it now. Demon-related seizures don't last long, especially if the connection is cut," She stood up slowly, her legs wobbling slightly as she helped Lewis up, "but he'll be really sore, and also tired if I read correctly. The ambulance should be here by now-let's get him to the Shrocker's house."
They began walking slowly, Mystery panting behind them, "An ambulance? I knew you were psychic, Vi, but you never told me you could summon emergency vehicles at will."
She looked up at Lewis tiredly, "I told that boy to call them from the Shrocker's house, I'm sure he's gotten there by now. See, there they are."
Sure enough, red and white lights were flashing vividly up ahead of them with the promise of at least a good blanket or two and the proper treatment Arthur. Lewis looked down at his friend, lying limply in his arms as his chest rose and fell shallowly in sleep. Why had they brought him along in the first place? He never wanted to come investigate, and he always ended up the victim of some horrible fate.
Vivi must've been thinking of Arthur, too, as she grabbed his limp hand in hers. It had fallen from Lewis' protection and into hers without ever having to be alone. The three of them were terribly scratched, bruised, and overall battered, but with another near-death experience out of the way, Lewis felt extremely close to the ragtag group he now called family.
Did he want to ruin that?
Her hand still clenched Arthur's, her eyes staring straight ahead. She caught his glance out of the corner of her eye, turning to look up at Lewis with a reassuring smile, complete with closed eyes and raised cheeks. Should he risk that smile for the chance to call her, his?
Lewis smiled back as sincerely as he could. He wasn't willing to change what he had right now, even if it meant giving up the possibility of Vivi's love. It didn't matter how long he might have to wait, when the moment came, he'd tell her. Until then, he was perfectly okay with his little paradise.